FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE 65 



the plough marked an extraordinary advance in the 

 agricultural art is indicated by the concurrent ap- 

 proval, in foreign lands, of the new method of con- 

 struction, by the two great institutions named, and the 

 adoption of the method there, and by the sudden ex- 

 pansion, in this country, of the plough manufacture. 

 The fact that ploughs of Jefferson's model are not now 

 used does not affect the proposition that a great stride 

 had been made. What was then solely sought for, 

 both in America and Europe, the plough that with the 

 minimum of power would best invert the sod, had 

 been obtained. A plough that with less economy of 

 power should serve also to break or disintegrate the 

 sod had not then been asked for. Herein, in part at 

 least, lies the explanation of the circumstance that 

 after the year 1818, during a period of twenty-two 

 years, the Massachusetts society offered no premium 

 "for the best plough." 



The cattle show of the Massachusetts society at 

 Brighton, in 1816, though the first held in this section 

 of the State, had been anticipated in date by the Berk- 

 shire County Agricultural Society, whose first exhibi- 

 tion took place in 1811, at Pittsfield, and was 

 thereafter an annual event. This priority appears to 

 have been a matter of considerable pride on the part 

 of members of that society, who somehow interpreted 

 the congratulatory reports of the Massachusetts 

 society, respecting the series of shows begun at Brigh- 

 ton, as having a tendency, if not a purpose, to dimin- 

 ish their ov/n just renown. The Berkshire movement 

 owed it origin wholly, and its success largely, to the 

 ardor and energy of Elkanah Watson of Pittsfield. He 

 had travelled considerably in England and France, 

 and had observed the popular appreciation of cattle 



